EPHI, KT Directorate hosts PERLSS one-year anniversary meeting at Hilton Hotel, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia
Members of the Partners for Evidence-driven Rapid Learning in Social Systems (PERLSS) network met in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. The Knowledge Translation Directorate of the Ethiopian Public Health Institute (EPHI) was the host institution for the one-year anniversary of PERLSS network. The meeting was held in Hilton Hotel, Addis Ababa on December 16-18, 2019.
Dr. Getachew Tollera, Deputy Director General of EPHI and Ethiopian PERLSS team member, gave opening remark. He provided his warm welcome for partners from different continents and emphasized the importance of evidence to inform policy and practice in his remark. He also thanked both initiators and funders for their valuable contribution in all endeavorsOn this one-year anniversary, members of the PERLSS network reviewed achievements over the past year, shared lessons learned, and reviewed the strategy for the next two years of the program. The meeting was built on key insights about project coordination and administration from the meeting held in September 2019 in Johannesburg.
During the meeting, PERLSS members were excited when the funders announce an additional budget of 1,000,000USD for the coming two years. PERLSS involves organizations in 12 countries (and synergy-support teams in four countries) that support policymakers and stakeholders to draw on many types of research evidence to clarify development problems and causes, frame options to address them, and identify implementation considerations.
PERLSS is already supported by the Hewlett Foundation and Canada’s International Development Research Centre (IDRC). PERLSS is a one-of-a-kind international effort that helps support the achievement of the non-health SDGs using best evidence, citizen values, and stakeholder insightsThe social event, which included a visit to national palace one day before the meeting, was a great occasion to create rapport between partners from almost all continents.